When I got a phone call the other day that a man had 2,000 cans of food to donate to Manna House, I was almost speechless. I was in Little Rock at the time of the call and therefore could not meet him to receive the delivery.

When I asked if he could come the next day to deliver the food, he replied his wife was scheduled to go to the hospital to have their baby, so that would probably not be a good idea. I totally agreed!

I made a quick phone call and arranged for the people working at Manna House that day to stay a little longer and give Ken Aden time to get there to deliver his 2,000 cans of food, a portion of the total he had collected while completing his 253-mile “Run 2 End Hunger” race, to raise awareness of hunger, food insecurity and poverty in Northwest Arkansas.

Manna House is a food pantry supported primarily by members of the First United Methodist Church of Russellville. We are indeed blessed by this donation and thank Ken Aden for contributing to Manna House but most of all for focusing on the issue of hunger and poverty and making other people aware that hunger does exist — even in your neighborhood.

Jan Williams

Volunteer Coordinator

Manna House

Officials need to lead by example

Pursuant to the Animal Cruelty Law of 2009, under Act 33, 5-62-103 Offense of cruelty to animals, a) A person commits the offense of cruelty to animals if he or she knowingly: 3) Abandons an animal at a location without providing for the animal’s continued care. This act of cruelty is punishable by a fine of no less than $150 and no more than $1,000 for the first offense, or no less than one day and no more than one year in jail or ordered to complete community service. For each offense the punishment compounds.

Although this law is dated 2009, it is an old law that was considered important enough to carry over when the animal cruelty laws were revised in 2009.

After reading an article in a local newspaper, it became apparent to me that not only is the general public unaware of this law, but so are our elected officials.

In the City Council meeting in Atkins, Mayor Barrett of Atkins instructed street superintendent Alfred Berry “to get some traps to catch cats in downtown and take them out of town. Alderman Sean Rehm said people drop off cats at his farm and he welcomes some to combat the mouse and rat problem.”

This sounds like a complete disregard for the animal cruelty laws of Arkansas. Possibly, Mayor Barrett forgets the case in 2008 when the mayor of Helena-West Helena was convicted of animal cruelty for releasing dogs “to fend for themselves in the St. Francis National Forest.”

City attorney Bill Swain said at the Council meeting that he “had no suggestions about what can be done about loose cats in town.” Since it seems our city officials cannot come up with any solutions, maybe I can help them out.

If they are going to the trouble of catching the cats, have them euthanized.

This is a much more humane action than dumping them in the country to fend for themselves and breed indiscriminately.

I am sure this does not sit well with a lot of folks, so another more involved action could be to have them spayed and neutered. There are many animal rescue foundations in the United States that would be happy to help with the relocation of these at-risk animals.

As a rural land owner, I can attest to the fact that no one, other than possibly Alderman Sean Rehm, wants stray cats and dogs dropped on them. Why pass the buck on to someone else? Every year there are more than 20 dogs and cats dropped in my small rural community.

There is no way we can accommodate this quantity of animals.

When do we get to pick the kind or amount of pets we desire.

Let’s draw the hard line and force our citizens and leaders to follow the laws, if not their conscience, by enforcing the Animal Cruelty Laws that were passed by the majority vote.

Andrea Thaxton Kaffenberger

Dardanelle

Thank you for sharing

I want to take this opportunity to express my appreciation, along with many others, to Marjie Hurley for her steadfast spirit and grace during the recent election. This is not about winning or losing an election, because Marjie herself has said she believes it is all in God’s will, but about her testimony of faith and character. Marjie, all of us who really know you, rejoice in what God, through Christ, has done in your life.

The expression of all of us who know Marjie is best expressed in the words of her own son, Caleb. Thank you, Marjie, for giving us permission to share Caleb’s text message to you.

“Mom, I’ve been laying here for the last hour and haven’t been able to sleep. I’ve just been thinking about a lot. I want to thank you for being the strongest lady I have ever seen in my entire life. People say bad stuff makes you cool and happy. I’ve been placed in situations and I think to myself that it’s possible to be happy without all the sin and darkness of the world. You have been through way more than anyone deserved to go through, and somehow, through all of that you have still managed to come out on top. I see families in public whose parents are obviously drug addicts. I think to myself, that could be me? My parents were worse than that? You will never understand how much I look up to you. You have always been here for me. People may put you down, and bring up your past, but that makes you who you are today. The Bible says you reap what you sow. And God doesn’t reward bad behavior. So keep you head up! Because the people that doubt you haven’t impacted near as many lives as you have. Your testimony is overwhelming and I’m very glad to call you my mom and my best friend. I love you so much!”

Caleb’s words should inspire all of us to strive to be better examples to the world and all who are watching our lives.

Ephesians 3:20 states “Now to Him Who, by the power that is at work within us, is able to do superabundantly, far over and above all that we ask or think.” (AMP) Marjie, God has great things in store for your life, even more than you can imagine.